AT&T is awarding a grant that will help benefit small, minority-owned and women-owned businesses in the Houston area impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Houston Minority Supplier Development Council is one of several chapters around the country receiving a $5,000 contribution. Total nationwide contributions will exceed $100,000.
“We depend on these businesses to provide innovative thinking and fresh ideas to help support AT&T’s supply chain.”
Jalayna Bolden – Director, Supplier Diversity, AT&T
“We’ve witnessed first-hand the tremendous strain the pandemic is putting on small businesses across the U.S., and women- and minority-owned small businesses in particular,” said Jalayna Bolden, Director, Supplier Diversity, AT&T. “Not only are they critical building blocks of their communities, but they also help sustain job creation. We depend on these businesses to provide innovative thinking and fresh ideas to help support AT&T’s supply chain. We want them to know that we stand behind them.”
The funds will be used to help defray the costs for women- and minority-owned business certification and re-certification. The certification process is a necessary step that diverse businesses must take in order to work with corporations and other businesses seeking diversity in their supplier relationships. The Houston Minority Supplier Development Council will oversee how best to distribute the funds in order to optimize the benefit to their members.
AT&T’s Supplier Diversity program seeks to make meaningful and measurable contributions to the economic growth of diverse companies and communities. By stimulating job growth, improving opportunities for technical training and being a catalyst to stimulate new diversity businesses, AT&T’s Supplier Diversity program seeks to help improve the livelihoods for diverse individuals across the country.
